Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-derived high resolution wind products are calculated from high resolution SAR images of normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of the Earth's surface. Backscattered microwave radar returns from the ocean surface are strongly dependent on wind speed and direction. When no wind is present, the surface of the water is smooth, almost glass-like. Radar energy will largely be reflected away and the radar cross section will be low. As the wind begins to blow, the surface roughens and surface waves begin to develop. As the wind continues to blow more strongly, the amplitude of the wave increases, thus, roughening the surface more. As the surface roughness increases, more energy is backscattered and NRCS increases. Moreover, careful examination of the wind-generated waves reveals that these surface wave crests are generally aligned perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction, suggesting a dependence of backscatter on the relative direction between the incident radar energy and the wind direction. This data set consists of high resolution sea surface winds data derived from SAR on-board RADARSAT-2 satellite. The basic archive file is a NetCDF4 file containing SAR wind, a land mask, and time and earth location information. Also archived are the maps of the SAR wind in GeoTiFF format. The product utilizes the CoastWatch product format and covers the geographic extent of the SAR image frame from which it was derived.

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Distribution Formats

netCDF (Version: 3)

File Specification: CoastWatch Satellite Data Encoding, March 2010

TIFF (Version: 6.0)

File Specification: Tagged Image File Format

Ordering Instructions

Data may be searched and downloaded using online services provided by NCEI using the online resource URLs in this record. Contact NCEI Information Services for custom orders. When requesting data from NCEI, the desired data set may be referred to by the unique package identification number listed in this metadata record.

Individual SAR images with wind data at a resolution of 0.5 km are obtained from Alaska waters and the North Pacific covering the region: 179.0E to -179.0W, 75.0N to 40.0N. Some coverage has been obtained over Hawaii, the coasts of Maryland, Delaware, and the northern gulf of Mexico.SAR products support the following mission/projects: Weather and Water, Ecosystems, Commerce and Transportation, hazard monitoring and response, CoastWatch, the National Ice Center, the Office of Response and Restoration Emergency Response Division, and other NOAA offices.

Purpose

Basic research

Use Limitations

accessLevel: Public

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